Bad fuel pump?

[jah1542]

I think my fuel pump is going out, and I had a friend of mine who is a mechanic look at it. One thing he suggested is that I hook up an ampmeter to the fuel pump relay fuse whenever the car started acting up, and see how many amps the fuel pump was pulling. He said that it was a new technique they had been using at the dealership where he worked to daignose failing fuel pumps. He told me that if mine was pulling any more than 5.5 amps, it was probably on its way out. Over the last few weeks, I've gotten readings anywhere from 5.6 amps all they way up to 6.03 amps while the pump is priming the lines.

Has anybody ever heard of this method to diagnose a bad pump? Is 6 amps an indicator of a dying pump?

[lt11997]

I do the same thing at work. Last week I did a fuel pump on a ford ranger that was pulling 27 amps. 6 amps is kind of boderline, I would let it go for awhile and see if it gets worse.

[CALL911]

Sounds like a good way to diagnos it. Generally speaking, other possible signs the fuel pump is going bad, is the car will have trouble starting, and your fuel pressure will start to die down.

[jah1542]

Thanks for the input. I'll let it go for a while longer and recheck the plugs, injectors and such again. Maybe I missed something.

[DAdkins23]

What are the problems you are having with the car to make you think the fuel pump is going out?

-Dax